LONDON -- Antonio Conte praised Chelsea's display of "maturity" and patience after Diego Costa's moment of brilliance broke down a stubborn West Brom at Stamford Bridge to move the Blues clear at the top of the Premier League.
Costa outmuscled Gareth McAuley and fired his 12th goal of the season into the top corner in the 76th minute to extend Chelsea's winning run in the Premier League to nine matches, but only after Tony Pulis' disciplined and organised visitors had frustrated them for long periods.
There was little evidence of the rampant Chelsea team that has laid waste to many opponents in the Premier League since late September, but after the match Conte insisted that he had anticipated a different kind of game.
"It was a very difficult game but we knew this," Conte told a news conference. "I spoke a lot this week about this game because we faced a very tough team, a physical team that is very difficult to break down. But I'm pleased because today we showed great maturity and great patience to find the right solution."
Asked if this victory was more satisfying than some of Chelsea's more emphatic scorelines in recent weeks, Conte replied: "Yes, because when you have an easy win sometimes you can lose concentration or focus. I like to see my team fight in the same way as West Brom, and it wasn't easy. They showed me this: great character, great attention, great motivation to try to win.
"Now it's important to think about the next game against Sunderland on Wednesday, because we have only two days to prepare for this game. It's important to be focused because this is a very important moment. We have a lot of games in the Christmas period and it's very difficult for all the teams."
West Brom manager Pulis praised his team for executing their game plan at Stamford Bridge despite leaving empty-handed, and admitted that he had been forced to tailor his preparations towards nullifying Chelsea's unorthodox but highly effective 3-4-3 formation.
"They play a different formation to most teams in the Premier League," Pulis said. "We had a good week working on it, what we wanted to do and what we didn't want to do. We were well set up, I thought, without possession and we caused them some problems on the break, especially in the first half.
"What we needed to do was when we regained possession, just get that pass off to get us up the pitch a bit further to give us the opportunity to cause them some more problems.
"The goal is disappointing because Gareth should have dealt with it. Having said that, I've got no qualms with him or any of the lads, because they've been well set up, well organised and they've worked really hard as a group. That honesty will hopefully take us through this season."